***

Donghae is startled out of his trance by the sound of his cellphone buzzing on the desk. He blinks his watery eyes and shakes his head before running a hand through his unruly hair. The words on the page below him have started to blur and merge. He slams the Engineering textbook shut and slides his index finger across the screen of his phone to reveal a text message from Hyukjae.

Open your door.

A small smile tickles the corners of Donghae’s mouth. He walks over to his dorm room door and obeys his best friend’s command.

Hyukjae is standing on the other side of the threshold. He looks as much disheveled as Donghae feels, his sandy locks carelessly thrown across his forehead, T-shirt wrinkled and athletic shorts sitting low on his hips. He’s wearing mismatched socks, one green with strawberries on it and the other a white tube sock. There’s a big grin on his face though.

In each of his hands is a plastic bag.

“I brought us some food,” Hyukjae explains, moving past Donghae until he’s sitting on the latter’s bed. “I figured you were still studying for your exam, but then I thought you could use a break.”

Donghae closes the door to his single and resumes his seat at his desk. He makes grabby hands at one of the bags Hyukjae placed at his feet.

“Thanks, Hyuk. I was about to gouge my eyes out.” Donghae takes a styrofoam container from the bag along with a bottle of Cola retrieved from one of the vending machines. In the box is some stir-fry from the dining hall and a few chicken wings. “So, how are your majors coming along?” he asks around a mouthful of noodles. “You must be almost done.”

Hyukjae swallows his own food before answering. “Meh,” he replies noncommittally. “The Dance major is easy for the most part. It’s the PT that’s killing me.” He bites into a chicken wing, some of the sauce from his thumb. “The human body creeps me out.”

“Well, you declared the major last year.”

“It’s a back-up career in case dancing doesn’t work out.”

“So then you’ll be going to medical school next year?”

“I don’t know.”

They’re overcome by silence for a moment as they eat. When they’re done, Hyukjae gathers their trash and tosses it in the bin in the hall before returning to Donghae’s room. He finds the other male curled up on his bed, head on his pillow.

“I’ve missed talking with you,” Donghae mumbles. He slides backwards to let Hyukjae sit down beside him. The latter smiles softly, reclining against his friend’s legs.

“Me too.”

“I hate that I never see you anymore.”

“Me too.”

“We should have roomed together.”

Hyukjae huffs. “Probably.”

“College .”

“Yeah.” He turns to Donghae. “But one day when you’re the head of some famous engineering firm, and I’m hopefully dancing professionally, it’ll all be worth it.”

“We’ll never see each other then either.”

“Sure we will. Every day.”

Donghae sits up and pulls his legs out from behind Hyukjae’s back. He narrows his eyes suspiciously at the dance major, an all-too-familiar heat pulsing through his chest, making the muscles clench painfully around his heart. Hyukjae suddenly looks flustered, his cheeks going pink.

“I-I mean…. Hae, I—man, I’m so bad at this.”

Hyukjae levels his gaze to meet Donghae’s now wide, brown eyes. Taking a deep breath, Hyukjae says, “I don’t want us to be best friends anymore.”

When Donghae says nothing, Hyukjae clarifies.

“I want us to be more than friends. I love you, and I want us to stay together when we graduate. I want you to be in my future, Donghae, and I want to be in yours too. We may not be able to spend much time together now because of our conflicting schedules, but I know for a fact that my feelings for you are genuine and I don’t think they’ll change.”

Donghae feels like his heart is about to beat out of his chest. His surprise and elation must be muddled on his face because Hyukjae tenses like he’s waiting to be rejected.

“Me too,” Donghae murmurs. Hope sparks in Hyukjae’s eyes. “I love you too.”

Finally releasing the breath he had been holding, Hyukjae launches himself across the bed at Donghae and buries his blushing face in the latter’s flushed neck. They fall backwards, the older man lying heavily atop Donghae.

“How long have you loved me?” Donghae asks shyly.

Hyukjae finally relaxes enough to smile into Donghae’s skin. “I thought you were cute from day one.” He laughs. “But then after I got to know you better, I realized that you were intelligent, funny, sweet, and driven, and I fell in love with you more with each moment we spent together.”

“Since orientation? That long ago?”

“Uh-huh. You asked to borrow my pen to write down your class schedule on the back of your hand.”

“I had wanted to ask for your phone number actually.”

They both chuckle, the vibrations from their laughter shakes the rickety, wooden bedframe. Hyukjae plants a kiss to the corner of Donghae’s mouth before the brunette brings him down for a second, more exciting kiss.

“So…’every day’, huh?”

“Yeah,” Hyukjae whispers. “Every day.”

***

/comes out from under the rock I’ve been living under/

So uh hi. I just felt like writing something today. Nothing special, kinda short, and probably not very good, but I hope it’s at least okay. I may write another short prompt like this tomorrow. I hope you all’ve been well. /kisses/